Agatha Christie/Transcript
Transcript Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby. A robot, Moby, is walking down a dim, spooky hallway with a sheet of paper in his hand. There are spider webs on the walls and ceiling. He opens a bedroom door and sees a boy, Tim, kneeling by the bed and examining something on the floor with a magnifying glass. MOBY: Beep. TIM: What? Uh, nothing. Oh hey, a letter. Tim reads from the typed letter. TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, Why are we reading a mystery in school? It's by Agatha Christie. Thanks, Sylvester. TIM: Well, Agatha Christie's mystery novels are incredibly popular. In fact, she's the best selling fiction writer of all time. An image shows a stack of hardcover Agatha Christie novels. TIM: About a billion copies of her books have been sold in English, with another billion sold in translations in all sorts of languages. Images of three Agatha Christie novels in different languages are shown. TIM: She also wrote a bunch of award-winning plays, and her books have been adapted into films, TV series, and even video games! Images illustrate the various adaptations Tim describes. TIM: Her novels are popular not just because they're fun to read, but because they tackle important questions about justice and law. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, Agatha Christie was born in Torquay, England in 1890. An image shows Agatha Christie and a map of England with Torquay indicated. TIM: In 1920, she published her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles. An image shows the novel. TIM: This book introduced the detective Hercule Poirot, a retired Belgian police officer with a cool moustache. An image shows Hercule Poirot. TIM: He shows up in more than 30 novels, 50 short stories, several movies, and a popular TV program. An image shows Hercule Poirot looking through a magnifying glass. TIM: Another of her famous characters is Miss Marple, an elderly Englishwoman with a talent for detection. She shows up in a dozen novels and also has her own TV series. An image shows Miss Marple. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Yeah, Christie wrote a lot of mystery books, 80 in all, including short story collections. TIM: One of the most famous is Murder on the Orient Express, published in 1934. An image shows Christie's novel. TIM: The entire thing takes place on a train called the Orient Express, a real train that ran through Europe for most of the twentieth century. An animated railroad map shows the Orient Express train traveling through Europe. TIM: Hercule Poirot is travelling on this train, and it gets stuck in a snowbank. An animation shows the train hitting a snowbank. TIM: When a murder takes place, Poirot solves it through careful observation and detection. He gathers everyone on the train into one car and explains who committed the murder and then lets the criminals go. An image shows Poirot examining some evidence. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Yeah, one of the reasons Christie's books are so popular is that she really thinks about the themes of justice, law, and punishment. Images show Hercule Poirot, a scale of justice, and a judge's gavel. TIM: Murder on the Orient Express suggests that sometimes the law isn't quite good enough. And that maybe morality isn't always black and white. Several question marks appear around the image of Poirot. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Yeah, it's a lot to think about. TIM: And Then There Were None, published in 1939, deals with similar issues. This book breaks a lot of the conventions of the mystery genre. An image shows Christie's novel. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, a genre is a type of story, like a romance, a spy thriller, or a horror story. Images of a heart, a spy, and a skull appear, illustrating the three genres. TIM: There are some things that you just expect when you read a murder mystery. An image of a magnifying glass appears next to the other genre images. TIM: Like, there's usually a detective, and the author usually puts in clues that a good reader can use to figure out who the killer is. An image shows a detective looking at footsteps with a magnifying glass. TIM: Neither of those is true for And Then There Were None. TIM: In the book, ten people are lured to a house on an island. An animation shows lightning flashing as ten people walk up to a mysterious-looking house on an island. TIM: When they get there, they're all accused of having killed someone in the past. An image shows a room full of people listening to a recording and looking shocked. Two of the guests are Tim and Moby. TIM: One by one, they start to die. The solution to the story comes in the form of a letter from the murderer that's found at the very end of the book. Images shows four of the murdered guests and how they died. One is poisoned, one is suffocated, one is shot, and one is hanging from a rope. TIM: And Then There Were None asks questions like, is it okay to murder a murderer? An image shows an electric chair. There is a large question mark over the image. TIM: What is injustice and how can you restore justice? An image shows the silhouette of a person behind bars. There is a large question mark over the image. TIM: And where do you draw the line between people who commit crimes and the people who punish them? An image shows a judge addressing a criminal. There is a large question mark over the image. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, if you want to find out, you're going to have to read this book. A ticking clock passes across the screen. Moby is sitting in a living room chair, reading ''And Then There Were None. Tim walks into the room, holding up a copy of the same book.'' TIM: I just finished the book. You'll never guess who the killer is. Moby drops his book and motions for Tim to stop talking. TIM: I'm going to tell you right now. It's... The screen goes dark. Category:BrainPOP Transcripts Category:BrainPOP Social Studies Transcripts Category:BrainPOP English Transcripts